Conflicts of Interest Policy

IPMM requires disclosure and management of financial and non-financial interests that could reasonably be perceived to influence research, peer review or editorial decisions. Disclosure does not automatically disqualify a person or invalidate a study; the editorial team assesses the circumstances and takes proportionate action.

Authors

At submission, each author discloses relevant employment, consultancy, honoraria, grants, material support, patents, equity, personal relationships and academic or institutional interests connected with the work. Authors identify all funding sources and the funder's role in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation and the decision to submit. State explicitly when there are no relevant interests or no specific funding. Update declarations if circumstances change.

Reviewers and editors

Reviewers disclose relationships and interests before accepting an assignment, including recent co-authorship, shared institutional affiliation, supervision, ongoing collaboration and research group membership. The handling editor assesses the disclosure and applies the Peer Review Policy. An editor with a relevant conflict does not manage the manuscript or take part in its decision; an editor without that conflict assumes those responsibilities. AIDIMO, sponsors, advertisers and collaborating institutions do not intervene in peer review or acceptance decisions.

Manuscripts by editors and board members

Members of the Editorial Board and the International Advisory Board may submit manuscripts to IPMM. These manuscripts follow the same editorial and peer review standards as any other submission.

Editorial Board. An author who is a member of the Editorial Board does not take part in the editorial handling of, or the decision on, their own manuscript. The published article states in its Conflicts of Interest section that the author is a member of the Editorial Board and that the manuscript was handled by another editor. Authors indicate this membership on the title page and in the cover letter.

International Advisory Board. Advisory Board members do not handle manuscripts or take editorial decisions. When they submit as authors, they disclose any relevant conflict of interest in the same way as any other author.

When an editor has a potential conflict of interest with a manuscript, for example because of authorship, a close professional or academic relationship with the authors, or membership of the same research group, that editor does not make the final decision on it. The handling and decision are assigned to another editor without a conflict, and the journal may apply additional measures to safeguard the independence of the process, such as relying on external reviewers who are independent of the authors. These arrangements are recorded in the journal's editorial system.

Publication and later concerns

Relevant author disclosures and funding statements are published with the article. If an undisclosed interest emerges, IPMM seeks an explanation, assesses whether review or conclusions were affected and may correct, reassess or retract the work as appropriate. The journal records how editorial and reviewer conflicts are managed.